in an interview This week, Eric Trump promised that his father would build a “very large wall” between the first family’s private business interests and government operations. He then took the stage at a cryptocurrency conference, without a hint of irony or shame, and spoke passionately about how President Trump would strengthen the cryptocurrency industry as the head of a cryptocurrency company with which his father has deep financial ties. . at large.
The younger Trump sat down for an interview with Reuters while in Abu Dhabi for a cryptocurrency advocacy conference and had a number of potentially reassuring things to say about how his family plans to avoid conflicts of interest between the Trump Organization and President Trump’s administration. I did it. But he did not provide ironclad safety measures.
“There’s obviously going to be a very big wall between everything that has to do with our company and everything that has to do with our government,” Eric Trump told Reuters, promising to take that duty seriously and citing his father’s first term as an example. Although many government ethics experts agree that President Trump did not do enough to prevent the conflict in the first place (for example, he refused to sell ownership of the Trump Organization). new Of course, President Trump continued to do business with existing foreign partners, granted them priority access at his 2017 inauguration ceremony, and refused to disclose exactly how much foreign governments paid to rent his hotel rooms. Various properties.
But this week, in the very interview in which he promised to take ethics issues seriously, Eric Trump outlined a much narrower promise. foreign government. It would not particularly cover new deals similar to the business partnerships Trump currently has in countries such as India, Indonesia, Turkey, Oman, and most recently Saudi Arabia. The pledge not to deal directly with foreign governments includes Trump’s association with LIV Golf, a golf league owned by the Private Investment Fund, a sovereign wealth fund that invests at the request of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. It’s also unclear whether any ongoing partnerships are involved. It profits from Saudi Arabia’s oil industry.
Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump-Vance transition team, did not respond directly to questions about foreign dealings, but said Donald Trump has already taken steps to distance himself from any conflicts and will sacrifice more of his wealth as he serves as president.
“President Trump walked away from his multibillion-dollar real estate empire to run for public office and give up his government salary,” Levitt responded. “He became the first president to actually lose his net worth while serving in the White House.” “Unlike most politicians, President Trump did not enter politics for profit. He’s fighting because he loves the people of this country and wants to make America great again.”
The final plan for how Donald Trump and his descendants will handle this potential conflict has not been made public. A formal agreement is currently being negotiated between Trump’s lawyers and the Office of Government Ethics. But despite Eric Trump’s promise to take ethics issues seriously, he almost immediately appeared to undermine his words.
Eric Trump, who took the stage at the same conference, told the crowd that his family saw value in cryptocurrencies as a way to bypass the gatekeepers of the traditional investment world. He promoted World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency company founded by Trump earlier this year.
Eric Trump then enraged the crowd by asking whether they liked current Stock Exchange Commissioner Gary Gensler, who is widely seen as an enemy in the cryptocurrency world.
“Gary Gensler has waged war against the industry we all love and the industry we all know,” Eric Trump told attendees. He then praised Paul Atkins, the cryptocurrency advocacy lawyer who was chosen by Donald Trump to replace Gensler.
